August 9, 2000; Lake County
8/9/2000 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access. On June 16, 2000, IPA received a letter dated June 13, 2000, from X, Y (X's spouse), and their minor child, Z. In their letter, X, Y, and Z requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding their access to data that Lake County maintains. IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Thomas Oswald, Director, Lake County Human Services, in response to X, Y, and Z's request. The purposes of this letter, dated June 30, 2000, were to inform him of the opinion request and to ask him to provide information or support for the County's position. On July 26, IPA received comments dated July 14, 2000, from Bruce Anderson, Lake County Attorney. A summary of the facts is as follows. X operates a day care and is licensed through Lake County. According to X, on March 4, 2000, the County began to conduct a standard background check for re-licensing. X wrote that on March 23, 2000, we made a verbal request to obtain copies of the actual completed studies. In a letter dated March 30, 2000, addressed to X, a County social worker responded: Enclosed are the results of the background study completed on 3/17/2000.... According to [Minnesota Statutes, section 13.46, subdivision 3], data on persons that is collected in an investigation authorized by statute and relating to the enforcement of rules or law is confidential data and shall not be disclosed except to provide notices required or permitted by statute.... You may want to contact your local law enforcement agency for more specific information regarding criminal history records. Attached to the letter was a letter dated March 27, 2000. In essence, it states that a background study was completed and that X, Y, and Z are not disqualified from providing direct contact services and may provide services to X's day care. No other specifics were provided. On April 8, 2000, X, Y, and Z, sent a letter to the County requesting that the County send copies of our background checks to the following address... In a letter dated April 25, 2000, the County social worker wrote to X and enclosed a copy of a letter, dated April 17, 2000, from the County Attorney. The County social worker wrote, It is the opinion of the County Attorney that criminal history records collected by Lake County Human Services from law enforcement agencies should not be released and should be requested directly from the subject of the study to the police departments involved. X, Y, and Z then requested an opinion. Issues:In their request for an opinion, X, Y, and Z asked the Commissioner to address the following issues:
Discussion:Data collected, maintained, used, or disseminated by the welfare system pertaining to persons licensed under the authority of the commissioner of human services are licensing data and are classified at Minnesota Statutes, section 13.46, subdivision 4. Clause (c), classifies the following data as private: personal and personal financial data on family day dare program applicants and licensees and their family members who provides services under the license. Section 13.04, subdivision 3, provides that individuals are entitled to gain access to public and private data of which they are the subject. When a data subject makes a request, the government entity must respond within ten working days. In the case of this opinion, the County conducted a background check on X, Y, and Z. Presumably, as part of this check, the County collected various types of information. On April 8, 2000, X, Y, and Z requested access to the background checks. In response, the County provided only a statement that X, Y, and Z may provide services for X's day care. In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Anderson asserted that police records contain confidential informant information, juvenile information and other information including reporting authorities that may be confidential. He wrote, The Welfare Department does not know these things and are not trained with regard to police information. As a county attorney, I do not believe it is appropriate for this office to be making decisions on municipal police offices and what information they may or may not disclose... Mr. Anderson's comments are problematic. First, the Commissioner is unaware of what kinds of confidential data or private data about individuals other than X, Y, and Z, a law enforcement agency would lawfully be providing to the County in response to a background check evaluation. Second, if a law enforcement agency provided private data about X, Y, or Z to the County, the data about X are accessible to X, the private data about Y are accessible to Y, and the private data about Z are accessible to X, Y, and Z. Third, any data that the County maintains are subject to requests for access. Pursuant to Chapter 13, Lake County is required to respond to requests and to know how its data are classified. The Commissioner would also like to add that the County social worker, in his March 30, 2000, letter to X, denied access to data based on section 13.46, subdivision 3, investigative data. That section classifies only those data collected as part of an investigation - not as part of the standard process for re-application for a license. In this case, the data are properly classified pursuant to subdivision 4 of section 13.46. The Commissioner does not know what specific information the County collected while conducting the background checks on X, Y, and Z. However, pursuant to section 13.46, subdivision 4 (c), those data are private as described above, and should have been made accessible within ten working days to the individuals to whom they pertain. The County should provide the data requested immediately. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issues raised by X, Y, and Z is as follows:
Signed:
David F. Fisher
Dated: August 9, 2000 |
Licensing data
Background checks
Background checks
Daycare, child care provider
Investigative data
Licensing data